Marine Connection is saddened to report the death of a male solitary, sociable common dolphin known as Luca who frequented Danish waters. First sighted in April 2020 around Aalborg, over the summer months he moved to various locations including Feggsund, however by September 2020 the dolphin remained mainly at Sundby Harbour before disappearing for 3 weeks from Christmas Eve 2020 until mid-January 2021 when he returned to Sundby, where he again left recently.
Luca was a short-beaked common dolphin, a species which are generally more abundant in offshore areas and although occasionally are seen in coastal waters, Luca’s appearance so far from the open ocean in a large inlet for such a long period gave cause for concern. Although age has not been confirmed, Luca was a young dolphin, thought to be around 4 years old. Marine Connection has contacted the Danish Environmental Protection Agency regarding this and is hoping that further investigation to determine the cause of Luca’s death will be undertaken, we will of course update as and when further information becomes available.
Further information on our work relating to solitary sociable cetaceans can be found here
